


Firebringer

by ThatDamnKennedyKid



Series: The Winged Jedi [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Female Obi-Wan Kenobi, Wingfic, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-09
Packaged: 2019-03-17 20:55:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13667118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatDamnKennedyKid/pseuds/ThatDamnKennedyKid
Summary: The familiarity with which they moved around the ship was startling in its efficiency. And there she stood on the bridge, arms crossed as she surveyed the open galaxy at her feet. He hated her for her control.





	Firebringer

**Author's Note:**

> FINALLY. UGH, I HAVE BEEN AGONIZING OVER THIS.

"What's going on?" Ezra asked, slightly panicked at the sight of the clones geting ready to move out. Hope ruffled his hair. 

"Commander Tano's ship for us is here." He said, passing off a water tank. 

"What kind of ship?"

"Cruiser!" Kanan yelled, ducking under the tank. 

Obi-Wan just laughed, beauitful in surprise. "You kept the  _Negotiator_ all these years?"

Ahsoka shrugged bashfully. "I always held onto the hope you would return, silly as it was. Besides, you actually managed to keep yours in one piece."

"Well, that's just because you and Anakin never had any respect for hardware or artillery."

"You can say that again." Scatterbrains muttered ruefully, finishing up repairs on Rex's AT-TE. He'd been her heavy ordinance director since Christophsis and had cursed the 501st to the stars and back for their reckless use of their ordinance and disrespect for the ship that kept them alive. 

Kanan came back out from under the tank, Sabine and Zeb peeking out from underneath the gun. "That's for us?"

"Kind of." Ahsoka replied, a little grin on her lips. "The  _Negotiator_ technically belongs to Obi-Wan. Your ship is perfectly capable of hyperspace. Its up to her whether or not you get to duck inside the cruiser."

"Ahsoka." Obi-Wan chastized with a light frown. She turned to Kanan. "Of course you can dock inside the  _Negotiator_. Didn't you say it was damaged as well? The hangar would have plenty of room available for repairs and all of the correct equipment."

Rex appeared from inside the tank, Gregor and Wolffe following in his wake. "Is that who I think it is?"

Obi-Wan's face lit up again. "Indeed. She's come for us, Captain."

A shadow passed over his eyes. "Oh yeah?"

"Of course. The ship was designed to hold the entire 212th, not just Ghost Company. Any and all friends are welcome ones."

Gregor leant back against the gunnery. "Thank you for the offer, General, but I'm more than content on my little rust bucket right here."

"I . . . " Wolffe started, having to look away. "I can't go. I can't go back."

Obi-Wan looked like she might reach out to him for a moment, then stopped herself from moving. The man had seen enough of war. 

Rex glanced at his brothers. He'd walked away from this life once already, exhausted and betrayed. He didn't have to go, she wouldn't make him, but some restless part of his spirit rebelled in his chest. She had been the one he was pining for, she had been the one he would have died for. If she had been there to stay with Amidala, he would never have left her side. He would have helped Gregor and Wolffe leave, then returned and stood at her shoulder as tall and proud as the day he got his first mission.

Gregor clapped a hand to his shoulder, smiling that understanding, loving smile. "Rex, brother, just go. She's right there."

He shook his head slowly. "I need to stay here with you. I  _want_ to be here with you."

Wolffe heaved a long-suffering sigh. "If . . . If Plo were here now, I . . . I would go with him."

Gregor smiled brighter. "You might want to stay here with us, but you want to be out there with her more. That's where you're meant to be. You're a soldier at heart, made of stone to your very core. Go to her, live out the last years of your life surrounded by stars and colour, not quiet and sand."

"Brothers-"

Wolffe held up a hand. "You'll need to be off the tank to board the gunships. Now get going before I keep your armour because you make me sentimental."

Rex's breath was shaky, uneasy. He didn't know what he wanted. He needed to be with his brothers, that he knew, but what about his doing in the wars? Doesn't he have some cause to fight for?

Gregor pulled him into a hug, his voice dropping into a whisper. "We're not the only brothers here, right? Those men down there are practically shinies. Need someone wise and experienced in this new galaxy to guide them. You know as well as I do that Tano can't be there all the time."

"But-"

"No more excuses, Captain. Get your pistols and get moving. Wouldn't do to keep your General waiting, huh?"

He chanced a glance down at her to find those stunning eyes locked on him - nonjudgmental, but waiting. Wind picked up around her, swirling copper and sand around her in a halo of brilliance, like an image out of Echo's trashy holonovels. He swallowed the lump in his throat and reached down to grab his helmet. 

"Where to first, General?" He asked, pulling it on. 

She smiled like both of Seelos' suns were trapped behind her teeth. "Wherever I might find Senator Amidala."

* * *

"This place is huge!" Ezra shouted into the massive hangar, eyes as wide as they could go just to take in as much as he could. Waxer chuckled fondly, slinging an arm over his shoulders. 

"Doesn't feel that way when the old girl is fully manned. She's definitely big, though."

"So, this is Master Kenobi's ship?"

"Yup. The  _Negotiator_ , the lead ship of the 212th and one of the prize flagships of the Republic."

"One of?"

"General Skywalker's  _Endurance_ was a close second." He teased, winking. "C'mon kid. Let's get you up to the bridge and show you her real beauty."

"I think that's a marvellous idea." Obi-Wan agreed from behind them, placidly walking as though she had never left it. "Come. We have a takeoff to view, don't we?"

Kanan followed behind, not really sure what else to do. Sabine and Zeb had taken the Phantom back to their original ship to inform Hera of the change in plans, so he was stuck here. Ezra certainly didn't want to leave - he stuck to Waxer like glue and the clone seemed delighted to have the Padawan around. It really bothered him that Ezra never once asked him permission. Indeed, he seemed completely invisible now. It hurt, deep in his chest, and he wasn't entirely sure why. He hadn't wanted to take Ezra on, to teach someone when his own training was woefully incomplete. It was better for him to be in the care of a Master like Kenobi, cared for by the brotherly comraderie of the clones. It was an objective truth.

"It's intimidating." Rex's voice made him jump out of his skin. He spun to face the older man, trying not to scowl in the face of that knowing smile. "Being thrust into somewhere you don't belong. A lot of shinies felt the same way."

"I'm no new clone." He spit, but the sympathy on the Captain's face only grew.

"Right now? Yeah, you are. You were a Padawan at the tail end of the war, after her disappearance. You don't know what any of this means. You're as shiny and new as the kid."

He scowled, but didn't say anything. 

"Come view the takeoff." Rex started walking off in the direction of the others.

"I've seen a takeoff." He sneered.

"Not from a starcruiser you haven't. It's entirely different." Rex grinned, motioning for him to follow.

He scowled the whole way there, but he did.

* * *

The cruiser was a huge vessel, but the three hundred something clones seemed to run it alright. The bridge was manned by civilian technicians, but the Cody was quick to have them versed in the Clone Wars lingo. He stayed as a fixture of the bridge, setting course at Ahsoka's request to Naboo.

"She's eager to see you again." Ahsoka said, hugging Obi-Wan again. "She wants you to be safe."

The raptor smiled gently, petting the woman's montrals. "I know she is. We will not disappoint, will we?"

"No sir." Boil replied, cheeky to a fault. Cody's little glare told him the informality on the bridge would not go unpunished again.

Ezra was plastered to the glass, Waxer holding him up to get the best view of Seelos as the ship pulled from orbit.

"Confirm when we are free of the atmosphere." Obi-Wan called out.

Hope, standing next to an operator, nodded at the starmap. "Hyperspace jump is a go."

"Coordinates."

"Locked." Called Helios.

"Make the jump."

"Break into lightspeed." Cody called out. 

Waxer's hold on him tightened and Ezra didn't understand why. The cruiser seemed to stop for a long moment before the hyperdrive kicked in and they lurched forward all at once, streaks of blue and white overtaking the view. The glass tinted darker to protect the eyes, but it only made the contrast higher and Ezra was enthralled. Waxer was right. It was a brilliant show. 

"Padawan."

He tore his gaze away from the window to face Master Kenobi. "Yeah?"

"The trip to Naboo from Seelos is quite some time. Would you be interested in training?"

"Yeah!" He wriggled out of Waxer's hold, making the clone laugh, before bolting over to her, completely oblivious to Kanan standing just behind Ahsoka. 

"Will you handle the bridge for me, Commander?"

"Of course, General." Cody replied. "Do you want a contingency to assist you?"

"Not yet. I think basics are in order." She took Ezra's hand. "Though, anyone wishing to join in meditation is more than welcome."

A couple of the clones grinned excitedly. Klic in particular beamed. "Sweet! Been a flew stretches I'd been meaning to try."

Kenobi looked down at Ezra, a small smile on her lips. "Shall we?"

Ezra walked right past him, staring starry-eyed up at Kenobi who guided him away with a gentle hand. All at once, the world resumed without him. Ahsoka walked over to the wartable like she belonged there, opening up the holomaps and reviewing their intelligence and course. Cody stood at the helm, supervising the civvies and clones working the navigation computers and artillery batteries. Scatterbrains pulled Valor off to the side, having a discussion about the cruiser and the little repairs and refurbishments that would have to be made to get her into top working order, like back in the good old days. 

The feeling started in the pit of his stomach, but was quick to boil over and rush up his throat in a dizzying wave of nerves and suffocation. It was like he didn't exist, as though they could all see right through him. In all his years in the galaxy, never had he felt so much out of place. He was no one here, nothing but occupied space with nowhere to be and nothing to do. The suffocation tasted like betrayal, but felt like failure. 

He couldn't blame Ezra for walking away from him. The boy was insatiably curious and in the face of a renowned Jedi Master like Kenobi? He had every reason in the world to go. Why would he stick with a mentor who had never wanted him around in the first place? He knew he would have been insulted at the Temple if they'd done something like that to him. 

The star destroyer was made up of bright blue lights, shining reflective chrome and stark white walls. There was no darkness to blend into, to hide the flaws and smudge them out. To make him look more like who he wanted to be rather than the truth of what he was. He didn't belong on this ship, wasn't a part of this world, but he had nowhere else to go. 

The hangar. He should go to the hangar. The high ceilings and open space would make this feel less like he wasn't necessary and more like he wasn't noticed. Hera was down there too, with Sabine and Zeb and the  _Ghost_. A little bubble of something familiar in a world that had no place for him. He had to get there before he suffocated on his own feelings. 

He didn't exactly remember how he got down to the hangar, but it didn't help as much as he thought it would. Only the sight of the  _Ghost_ pushed back the panic, but when he rounded the hull, Helios was standing with the crew, blithely discussing the repairs and what was most vital for the ship to function, what repairs could be shelved until they were back at a proper port on Naboo. Ezra had walked away from a mentor that hadn't even wanted him. Now, this bubble was tainted too.

"It's overwhelming."

Kanan jumped, heart in his throat, then spun around. Rex was standing there, nonjudgmental. "W-What?"

"Being in a place you don't belong. It's overwhelming."

Rex looked at him as though he could read into his soul and the weariness settled heavily on him. " . . . Yeah."

Rex gestured for him to follow and lead him over to a stack of crates, sitting down on one cross-legged and gesturing to the open space next to him. He didn't know what possessed him to, but he sat down. 

"It was like that for us too. The galaxy had never intended to have a place for us. We were made for the Jedi, for the war, and without either, what were we? Not heroes, not after the Order. It was worse for the 501st, because we served directly under Skywalker. We knew that the man he'd become wasn't who he would have wanted to be, but what could we do? Staying was supporting Vader, but leaving was entering a No Man's Land. I've been all over this damned galaxy, been on hundreds of planets and liberated trillions of people from the Separatists. But all of that? I didn't know what to do with that kind of life. That's no place for a clone."

"Still, the army seemed like a shitty place."

"That's just because you've never stood behind someone willing to take a blaster shot for you."

Anger rose swiftly, cancelling out the growing regret and sorrow, hot like acid. "Oh, and I suppose I should just kiss the fucking ground Kenobi walks on?'

Rex looked out over the hangar with an expression caught halfway between nostalgia and grief. "I was talking about Skywalker, actually, but Kenobi's no slouch."

"Oh." He adjusted himself, the anger vanishing as quickly as it rose to allow the guilt to continue to build. " . . . He, uh, he meant a lot to you?"

"It's probably fair to say that I loved Skywalker." Rex said, contemplation and calm exuding from him. "I had plenty of chances to run, to escape the army. And I knew it wasn't for everyone. I met a deserter, Cut Lawquaine, on a planet in the Outer Rim. He had a wife, two kids and a farm. he was happy there, content. That was his place in this world. It was his world and once he found it, nothing but death would take it from him. In an army of a million of the same man, we were all just a little bit different. He offered to let me stay with him, to run and never have to go back to the fighting. But this . . . this is where  _I_ belong. The military wasn't for all the brothers, but it certainly was for me. I had a purpose, a reason, a number and a  _name_. I was a person there, an asset, an equal. Skywalker was the one that taught it to me, that just by living, I was worthy of the life I'd been given. He always tried to make it just a little better, just a little less awful. It didn't always work and he was as crazy as a drunken Hutt, but it was something. He never called us by our numbers, only ever our names and he never once mixed us up. It doesn't mean anything to someone like you, but to us, it was the entire world. We were sworn to fight for the Republic, but at times, I was was just fighting for  _him_."

"And now?"

Rex winced, as though tasting something sour. "Kenobi's disappearance opened the doors for Vader to sneak in and consume him. That man is not Skywalker, but it didn't make the choice to leave any easier. And I certainly don't blame the brothers that stayed. Even as Vader, he was better to us than anyone out here was ever liable to be and sometimes the evil you know is the better choice. I couldn't serve Vader. General Skywalker would never forgive me."

" . . . Is this your world?"

Rex deigned to smile, a soft thing. "It is. I'm back with my brothers, back on a cruiser, back at the hand of a Jedi fighting to save the world. Wolffe and Gregor are done - there's too much broken inside them. But not me. In this ship is the last vestige of the Republic, the last little bit of who and what I am. I've got my armour, my name and my brothers. This, this is  _mine_. I'll die fighting for my world."

"Still sounds shitty."

Rex chuckled. "Let me give you some advice I gave Tano when she was still green: experience outranks everything."

"Tch. I'm sure."

" _Or'dinii_." Rex smacked him upside the head. "You use your eyes to see, your ears to hear and your hands to feel, but only those things. The only Jedi in the entire damn universe who never reaches for the Force."

"What are you trying to say?" The anger was rising again, but he tried to temper it. Rex had been open with him, his attempt at comfort honest. He wasn't responsible, didn't deserve the backlash. 

"I've never run from who or what I am. Maybe it would do you the same good to go upstairs and sit with the two Jedi who can lead you back to being Caleb Dume."

* * *

No one had given her the heads up when the  _Negotiator_ landed, only Typho's face appearing around the door into the war room, looking a little less old, a little more hopeful. 

"Captain?" She asked, standing a little straighter. Bail looked between her and him, raising an eyebrow. 

"You have a guest, General." He replied, stepping in and moving to the side. 

The copper-plated knuckles of wings entered first, the doorway not tall enough, but the ginger responsible for them followed at a measured pace. She looked just as she remembered - hair like strands of fire, clone armour plating, and meek beige robes that expertly concealed a predator. Even in the closed room, sunlight far from here, she glittered like her own sun. 

She couldn't help herself. She rounded the table and threw herself at the other woman, hugging her for all she was worth. She breathed her name like a prayer. "Obi-Wan."

"I'm glad to see you as well, Senator Amidala."

She could have cried. "Not so much anymore."

Obi-Wan released her, pushing her back a little bit to look her in the eyes. She frowned, sorrow deepening the colour of his eyes. "I broke you two apart, didn't I?"

She jerked, surprised and a little scared. "What?"

"You and Anakin. When I disappeared, it ended your marriage, didn't it?"

"I told you she knew." Typho murmured. 

She ducked her head, looking away from the piercing stare of the Jedi. "Ani tried for months on his own to recreate it, to open the wormhole again. When he wasn't successful, he petitioned the Jedi Council for help. They turned him down. He fought with them for weeks and they eventually banned him from the Council room, putting him on mental health leave. In desperation, he came to the Senate and pleaded with us to give him just a little bit of money and some engineers to help him. The drive to find you had consumed him and he was morphing into someone I didn't know - a desperate man missing a part of himself. When the Senate voted him down . . . "

"You needn't continue if this is too much for you. I can't imagine it's easy." Obi-Wan reassured, cupping her cheek. 

She wiped her eyes stubbornly. "It's fine. He told me he found another way, that someone had promised to bring you back. He would get this fanatical look in his eyes and then they would turn golden. He asked me to be his Empress. I told him I believed in democracy, the rights of the people. He stormed off and he didn't return to the apartment. He dissolved the standing Senate, opening the Imperial Senate to replace it. I was not invited to represent Naboo. He came back to me one more time, asked me to join him. I . . . I told him that I married Ani, not Lord Vader, and that the only way he would ever get me back was to give up on this pipe dream."

Obi-Wan stroked her cheek, sympathetic. "I told Satine once, long ago even for me, that to fight to live for one's beliefs will always be more dedicated than to die for them. You made the right decision."

"i wonder if I could have altered the outcomes by swallowing my pride. Maybe I could have redirected him."

"There is little use in dealing the what ifs. One man may change the world, but you're lucky. I brought three hundred."

Her smile was watery and she didn't bother to resist pulling the Jedi into another embrace. 

* * *

It was nightfall, so there was no reason for Kenobi to be prowling about, considering the accommodations that the Queen had provided for them. Instead, Kanan found her in the courtyard where the cruiser was docked, surrounded by her men and Rex. 

"Senator Amidala has briefed me on the Rebellion's current positions and hotspots. She requested our aid." Kenobi began. Some of the clones shifted, readying their bodies. She held up a hand that stopped them, gravity coming to her tone. "But that is only the end of why I called you here."

"General?" Cody queried, head cocked. 

"I'm giving you the choice, without judgment or retribution." She took a deep breath. "You are my men, and your well-being is something that matters dearly to me. It is very likely that we will never return from whence we came, that this is our new reality. In light of that, I want to offer you the chance to start over."

Waxer looked stricken. "General, what are you saying?"

"I am a Jedi. I have a duty to remain and assist the Senator and the Rebellion. But there is no Republic here. I'm giving you the option to lay down your arms and make a life for yourself. Senator Amidala has offered to assist in adjustment to the new lifestyles you may choose and has assured me that you will want for nothing. She considers it a pension for your services."

"You want us to walk away?" Boil sounded borderline offended. 

"This isn't about me." She replied gently. "And please do not factor me into your decisions. I want you to think carefully on this. This decision will affect the rest of your lives. I will not force you into another war you have nothing to do with."

The fond look on Rex's face was unmistakable. Cody shook his head in disbelief. 

"You think after all these years, all this trauma, that I can just walk away from you?" The Commander huffed, staring her down. "How dare you?"

"Cody-"

He cupped the back of her neck, pulling their foreheads together. " _Ner jetii_ , you can't even hold onto your lightsaber without me around. How dare you try to leave me behind now?"

The tenderness with which she touched him back was one entirely inappropriate of a Jedi, especially one of her calibre. Her breath hitched like she was close to tears. 

" _Riduur_ . . . " He murmured, taking one of her hands. "You don't understand what you're asking."

"I am not asking and I am not telling. I am simply relaying an opportunity." She pulled away, straightening, her wings stiff at her back with stress. "Please. Just consider it."

Cody looked heartbroken watching her go. "I can't promise any more than that."

"To avoid any judgment, any man in favour of leaving can leave one article of armour or weaponry on their bunk in the barracks and report to the garden at sunrise tomorrow morning. Good evening, gentlemen." She bowed out, hustling away to hide the tears beading on her lashes. 

Kanan backed away, intent to pretend it never happened. 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Or'dinii - moron, fool  
> Ner jetii - my Jedi  
> Riduur - lover, spouse


End file.
